Rating: 
Summary: Good info on themed tanks , maybe not so good for beginners
Review: After reading Peter W. Scott's book "The Complete Aquarium", I found it very informative and loved where he told how to build the different types of aquariums. However, I found some problems when it came to the marine animals suggested for some of the tanks. It was unfortunate that he suggested a Mandarin Goby at all, yet alone for a community tank rather than a reef tank. In the book, he wrote that the Mandarin Goby is fairly difficult to keep and will eat live brine and then become accustomed to flake food. Knowing many people who own Mndarin Gobies, this is not true. Mandarins will only eat what are known as copepods (small creatures found in the live rock), and are more likely to starve to death than to ever accept flake or brine. Also, he mislabled the size that mnay of the fish in his book can reach, for instance, he claimed that Regal Tangs will only reach 5 in. In real life, Regal Tangs have been known to reach well over 10 in. and are only 5 in. as babies, unless starved or mistreated. He got the size estimates wrong on many other fish, which I feel can lead a well-meaning hobbyist astray were they to look only at this book for information. For this, I give the book only 3 stars. I loved the aquarium parts and on how to set it up, but I do believe that Mr. Scott should look closer at the facts on the fish he recommends before listing them.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book
Review: I first bought this book looking for a book about building aquariums and was very disappointed. It is titled "The Complete Aquarium, A practical guide to building ....... aquariums". It, however, does not discuss the actual building of an aquarium, what it is refering to is the setting up of an aquarium. It does provide beautiful information for setting up theme tanks, ie. natural environment tanks from lakes, rivers, etc from around the world. It is also very attractive and well organized as is typical of a DK book.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book
Review: I first bought this book looking for a book about building aquariums and was very disappointed. It is titled "The Complete Aquarium, A practical guide to building ....... aquariums". It, however, does not discuss the actual building of an aquarium, what it is refering to is the setting up of an aquarium. It does provide beautiful information for setting up theme tanks, ie. natural environment tanks from lakes, rivers, etc from around the world. It is also very attractive and well organized as is typical of a DK book.
Rating: 
Summary: Start here! Good for the beginner or as a refresher.
Review: I found this book after I had bought my aquarium and set it up. I wasn't too sure what direction to go in - I just knew that I wanted healthy and happy fish. I read this book from cover to cover, took apart my tank and started over with great zeal. The book gave me lots of information on what to do and also allowed me to figure out what I wanted. The best part is the various set ups that are included, telling you what fish, plants and environments go together, from start to finish. If the book falls down in any area, it is lack of information about specific fish. However, in conjunction with a good book specifically about fish (which I think you should have anyway), The Complete Aquarium is a wonderful resource that has made my new hobby much more enjoyable because I now know what I want and how to get it!
Rating:
Summary: A must have book
Review: There's so much good information in this book, it pains me to quibble with some aspects of it--- but quibble I must. My main objection is to some of the fish combinations illustrated: for example, an East Asian display depicts a betta kept with a small group of infamously aggressive tiger barbs. In real life, the poor betta, with those tempting, flowing fins, would be picked to shreds by the barbs. In another tank, cardinal tetras are paired with full-grown angelfish, which would make a meal of them in short order. Some of the husbandry advice is questionable as well; in several of the displays, such as the West African Floodplain Swamp, the recommended lighting levels are much too low for the plants suggested and would eventually result in the plants' withering away. In a Papua New Guinea rainbowfish setup, the author gives sea salt as a requirement--- but the species illustrated are found far inland, in pure fresh water, and would not benefit from the addition of marine salt (to be fair, Scott does list some species found in brackish water as alternatives, but makes no distinction between the requirements of the two groups). In another section, he states that all catfish species are peaceful; but the aquarist who attempts to combine, say, an upside-down catfish with anything that can fit into the catfish's mouth, will be grieved to discover this is not the case.
Overall, however, I still rate this book highly. I think Scott's overall approach to fishkeeping, aside from some inaccuracies, is very responsible and up-to-date. He manages to compress an incredible density and complexity of information into a format that is beautifully photographed, well-laid-out, and easy to read. I especially like the emphasis he places on biotope-style aquaria, which is a fascinating and--at least in the United States--woefully under-emphasized area of the aquarium hobby. Because of the smattering of misinformation, I would recommend this book to an experienced aquarist who is interested in setting up biotope-type displays and who can spot the flawed advice. Otherwise, I would recommend supplementing it with other resources, including books, local aquarium societies, online sources such websites specializing in particular species (i.e., cichlids, killifish, rainbowfish, et cetera) and mailing lists (there's a lot of misinformation perpetuated on the Internet, so proceed with caution--best to ask experienced aquarists for recommendations), and the staff at a well-informed aquarium specialty store (i.e., not Petsmart or Petco). Despite its mostly minor flaws, it's one of my favorite resources in my growing aquarium library.
Rating:
Summary: Good info on themed tanks , maybe not so good for beginners
Review: This book does a great job of showing how to build different types of "themed" aquariums, be it a West African Floodplain Swamp or a Hawaiian Coral Reef. While these types of tanks are extremely beautiful in each of their own ways, I think that such projects are best left to more advanced aquarists and not beginners. I base this on a few reasons. For starters, many of the resources required to build these tanks are not common, and may require a lot of searching to scrounge up the necessary material (specific wood, substrate, plants, etc), basically a lot of things mentioned in this book I have never seen in any retail fish stores. Secondly, many of the themed tanks combine fish that are not suitable for a starting aquarist, who is not acclimated to the needs and wants of our fishy friends. I think
anyone who has maintained an aquarium and is reading this can recall mistakes that they made early on.
The "Complete Aquarium" does contain information on a community tank, which is fine for a beginner, but this occupies a small portion of the book comparatively.
Criticism aside, there are many good looking, full-color pictures and backgrounds on specific fish used in each tank project. There is also a chapter in the beginning of the book dedicated to the natural fish habitats and anatomy. If anything it is a nice book to have around if you ever want to undertake any of the "project" aquariums listed, or to read up on some of the natural habitats where aquarium fish come from.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much on set up
Review: This book has good information on setting up a tank. It gives detailed information on fish and plants and how to set up different environments. However, for other things (i.e., illnesses, babies, etc.) we have needed another book for more information.
Rating:
Summary: Step by Step on how to set up different aquariums scenarios
Review: This is a fantastic book that starts with general knowledge and background of different water environments and fish, but doesn't waste half the book on this background information. The majority of the book is devoted to explaining how to set up different sorts of aquariums, with detailed examples of the plants, rocks, gravel, and suitable fish for each variety of tank. It is mostly freshwater, but 3 Brackish-Water, and 3 Marine Aquariums are also included. The end of the book has easy to understand GENERAL information about water chemistry, filtration, heating, plants, feeding, and breeding. The only fault is not enough description about individual fish. But if you buy a companion book that describes different fish in detail, along with this book you will be well on your way to setting up the exact sort of aquarium you would like. Great book for beginners and also intermediates who are looking for new ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, concise and inspirational!
Review: This is a wonderful book that features excellent, concise information on the science of fish keeping, accompanied by wonderful photographs (this book is published by DK). It is most notable for its large section on tank design, which walks the reader through the design and setup process for 16 different tanks. Each ' with the exception of a couple of community tanks ' is an attempt to reproduce the various natural environments of many popular types of aquarium fish. The wonderful photos of the different tank designs are an inspiration! The genius of this book is that, (unlike the lavish creations of Japanese and German 'natural aquarium' experts, photos of which are often featured in aquarium books invariably making the reader sick with jealousy!), it showcases tank designs that are dramatic and beautiful, and yet also attainable by the average fish enthusiast. I have a few criticisms of the author's tanks. His choice of silver sand as the substrate for many of these tanks is unusual. I have to wonder how easy it would be to use sand in a tank that utilizes a power filter (as these do). I imagine it would be very hard to prevent the sand from getting stirred up and clouding the water. Same goes for using a vacuum siphon to clear debris from the bottom, which most aquariums require from time to time. I'm not saying it can't be done (I wouldn't know - I've always used gravel, not sand, in my tanks), just that I think a beginner could run into problems here. Similarly, several of the tanks featured in this book feature sandy banks that have been created by just patting the sand and stones into a slope towards the rear or sides of the tank. Ha! In reality, sloping areas of gravel or sand in the aquarium need to be built up and 'buttressed' in sections. If not, they will simply slide downhill very quickly and disappear. As other Amazon reviewers have already noted, the choice of fishes for the various tanks can be faulted. I couldn't believe it when I saw the combination of various types of gouramis with a group of Tiger barbs 'notorious bullies in the aquarium who would shred the beautiful trailing fins of the gouramis within a few days, stressing out all the inhabitants of the tank, not to mention human onlookers! Also, some of these tanks are stocked with very delicate fish, such as the discus, that should only be kept by very experienced hobbyists. Likewise, the author also features some 'high-maintenance' aquarium plants such as cabomba, without emphasising to novice readers that such plants require very intense lighting if they are to be grown successfully. Because of these shortcomings, the beginner should most definitely supplement this book with at least one other book that includes more information on problem solving and more detailed descriptions about the fishes themselves. Overall, though, this book is highly informative and a delight to read. I bought a copy of this book about a year ago and have used it over and over again. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: I Should have saved my money
Review: This wasnt the type of book for a newbie if you just wanted to know about fish. This is more of a HOW TO book for setting up different types of tanks. I guess it would be a great book if you were really deep into fish other than just wanting a nice community tank that looks nice and the fish wont eat each other.
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